The River of Life News

“God’s love flowing through us into the world”

Monthly Newsletter of South River UMC September 2015

Inside This Issue

From The Pastor

AttendanceChurch Financial Reports

Adm. Council MinutesBirthdays & Anniversaries

Prayer ConcernsAnnouncements

Monthly Events Calendar_____________________________________

South River UMC2880 South River Ch. Rd.

Woodleaf, NC 27054(704) 278-4089

www.southriverumc.org

Randy Powell, Pastor

Parsonage:(704) 278-2894Cell: (704) 267-1490

email:randypowell@southriverumc.org

Robinette Steele,

Preschool DirectorHome: (704) 278-9315

email:preschool@southriverumc.org

Linda Cranford ,

Church SecretaryHome: (704) 278-4045

Cell: (704) 213-2620email:

linda@southriverumc.org

Ann Cartner,Financial Recording Secretary

Cell (336) 940-8177 email: ann@southriverumc.org

Traci Steele,

Church TresurerHome: (704) 278-4058

Cell (704) 902-9060email: traci@southriverumc.org

Check us out on the web...www.southriverumc.org

From The Pastor...

LISTENING TO GOD

If you’ve ever had a conversation with someone who was constantly

checking his or her phone, then you know how frustrating it can be to

have half of a person’s attention. Because, honestly, having half of

someone’s attention feels like having none of it. It’s unhelpful when a

person is “there but not there”. In the end, it just a waste of

everyone’s time.

Do you think God ever feels that way about us? Is it possible He says,

“I’m willing to teach, but you are…”

· Consumed by your job

· Distracted by stress

· Living selfishly in the world

· Ignoring My Word

The direction our lives are taking will tell God whether we really want

to hear what He has to say. True disciples position themselves to hear

from God. They structure their lives so that when God speaks, they’re

ready to listen and respond.

Disciples of Jesus know it’s not enough to simply “want” His truth.

They go after it. They sacrifice for it. That’s because receiving truth

isn’t a passive experience. To learn from Jesus is to actively bend your

life around what matters most. In other words, we don’t grow as

disciples by listening to a sermon every week or even attending a Bible

study.

In Matthew 5, we saw Jesus’ disciples trek up a mountain in order to

hear His teaching in what we now call the Sermon on the Mount. That

wasn’t the only time Jesus’ disciples had to make an effort to

experience Him deeply.

It’s not easy to follow Jesus. You’ll sometimes need to climb a

mountain just to hear from Him. But the effort will be more than

worth it.

Keep climbing for Jesus!! - Pastor Randy

River of Life News

YouthUpcoming Events:Friday, September 11th- Saturday, September 13th

Youth Retreat Weekend and Whitewater Center Trip

Meet Friday @ 6pm @ the home of Tim & Debra Gusler

Sunday, September 20th ~ Youth meeting @ 5pm

Friday, October 2nd to Saturday, October 3rd.

Church-wide Family Campout – see details in the

announcement section.

Sunday, October 4th ~ Youth meeting @ 5pm

Friday,October 9th at 7pm to Saturday, October 10th @

8am

Youth Lock-Out

Sunday, October 18th ~ Youth meeting @ 5pm

Worship...average attendance for the last

month was 105. We have Contemporary

Worship at 9:15am and Traditional Worship at11:30am each Sunday.

Life Groups..Life Groups & kids programs for

all ages are held at 10:30am each Sundaymorning. The average attendance for the past

month was 61.

Church Financial Report July 2015

Estimated Monthly Budget Needs $14,647.00 Monthly Collections $14,082.50

Monthly Expenses $13,065.39Collections YTD $97,667.35

Expenses YTD $94,067.87

Missions Financial Report

July 2015Missions, Food Pantry & RX Account

Balance Forward from March- $16,190.13

Collections – Did not reportExpenses – Did not report

Current Balance – Did not reportWRBTA Offering

Collections - $2173.00

Administrative Council Minutes

August 9, 2015

With 14 people in attendance, Larry Cranford (CP)

called the meeting to order. Pastor Randy opened with

prayer. Susannah Kelty (Sec.) read the minutes from the

July 2015 meeting and they were approved as read.

Traci Steele (Treas.) handed out the financial statement

and went over the information. Monthly income for this

year is still less than the budgeted amount, but all of

the expenses are still being covered. She reported that

the State of NC sent a letter concerning elevator

inspection. That paperwork was handed over to Tim

White, Trustees CP. Church documents have been

deposited into a 3x5 safety deposit box in the

Clemmons branch of Allegacy Bank.

Missions: More Food Pantry recipients have been

coming to worship with us at S. River.

Evangelism: The Evangelism Team has not met

recently, but Pastor Randy reported they are thinking

about trying to do some kind of Fall Festival on Sunday,

October 25, with one worship service outside, possibly a

praise service, with lunch and outdoors activities, and

urging members to invite people to come.

SPRC: Susan reported that SPRC discussed the

shepherding program and have planned a meeting for

interested people at 6 pm on August 16.

Trustees: Tim White (CP) reported that Arthur Leech

gave a quote for doing crack repair under warranty and

sealing the whole parking lot. The Smith Brothers

representative said the parking lot did not need to be

sealed. Tim will have Arthur Leech complete the

warranty repair before preschool starts. Trustees will

check the parking lot after winter to see if anything else

needs to be done. The UV water filter is in place and

working. The water will still be tested quarterly,

following the regular testing schedule.

Preschool: Robinette Steele, Pre-School Director,

reported there will be 32 children in the new school

year with 8 on the wait-list. There are 15 4-year-olds

coming this year, so they will be divided into 2 smaller

classes. She requested permission to provide a

“classroom” area for the second 4-year-old class by

buying and installing 2 half-walls to put in the main

preschool room. Preschool has no budget for that, so

Robinette also requested permission to ask for

donations from church members towards that need.

The Council gave permission to the Preschool to make

this alternation to the preschool room, and to present a

request for donations to the congregation. Stacy White

moved that these two requests be approved. If

donations do not cover cost, the balance will be paid

out of building fund. The motion was seconded and

passed. The peeling paint on the block walls of the

River of Life News

preschool was discussed. Tim White will deal with that.

Cemetery: The headstone for Barbara and Ronald

Browning will be set up by the end of the month.

Parsonage: Barry Atwell reported a new ruling by the

WNCC Annual Conference that parsonages must be

inspected by a home inspector before a new pastor

moves in, and every 4 years thereafter.

Men’s Group: Tim Gusler (Coordinator) reported that

the men will take care of breakfast on Fifth Sunday. He

announced that some people have expressed an

interest in playing softball, so he is organizing a coed

team from S. River to play at Cornerstone Church in

Cleveland. The games will be played on Sunday

afternoons during August-October. The joining fee is

$450. Jody Steele moved that the church pay for the

joining fee from the extra money left over from VBS and

Seven on Seven refreshments. The motion was

seconded and passed.

Family Life: Tim Gusler, on behalf of Debra Gusler

(CP), reported that the Family Life Committee, together

with the Youth are planning a church campout for

Friday, October 2. There will be supper and breakfast

provided. More details will follow.

Old Business: Linda Cranford (Church Secretary)

reported that she worked on the updated facility use

policies and will bring those to the Council next

meeting. Traci Steele reported that July giving for

WRBTA was up. The August giving has not been

reported yet. There will be a golf tournament on Aug

22, and those funds should cover the balance from last

year. WRBTA will still need to raise money for the

upcoming year. David Lee Johnson reported that last

Thursday night David Childress met with a group from S.

River to discuss improving the safety of the church, and

shared what the safety team at his church does. It was

very enlightening, and showed areas where we need to

improve church safety. There will be another safety

meeting on August 26. Linda will put an announcement

in the bulletin.

Pastor’s Report: VBS was a great success. The Seven

on Seven Scrimmage outreach went well with lots of

volunteers from S. River. The council gave a personal

thanks to Stacy White and Traci Steele for all their hard

work to make it happen. There will be no gospel singing

after Homecoming. It has been left up to each Life

Group to decide if they will meet for class at 9:30 am

before the Homecoming service. At the Fifth Sunday

Social, there will be Life Group Leaders Recognition,

Promotion for children, and a blessing over bookbags.

Since S. River will host the Fifth Sunday Community Sing

on August 30, Family Life will be responsible to buy food

for refreshments when they buy food for Fifth Sunday

Social breakfast. The community Thanksgiving service

will be held on the Sunday evening before Thanksgiving

at Needmore Baptist Church, with their new pastor

preaching.

New Business: Barry Atwell reported there is a

broken key on the piano. Guy Maher found someone to

come this week to repair and tune the piano. People

have commented to Barry about a yellow spot visible on

the projector screen. Barry followed up on it and

learned that it is caused by bad pixels in the projector,

not the projector lamp. Replacing the lamp won’t help.

The only real solution is to replace the projector. The

council discussed options to upgrade the AV system and

the need to plan that into the budget for the new year.

Barry will research and present the best options to the

council so they will know how much to budget for the

upgrade. He will also have a contingency plan ready in

case the projector quits before it is replaced. Traci

announced that money was donated to provide a

banner advertising S. River, which will hang at football

games. Because a number of Council members will be

away on Sept 13, Admin Council will meet on Sept 20 at

7 pm.

A motion to adjourn was made and seconded, and the

meeting was adjourned. Pastor Randy closed with

prayer.

Respectfully submitted,

Larry Cranford, Chairperson

Susannah Kelty, Secretary

Newsletter Option

The monthly church newsletters can beemailed to you. This reduces our paper,copying and mailing expense. If youwould like to change your paper copy to email,

please notify Linda Cranford, Church Secretary, at

(704) 278-4045 or email at

linda@southriverumc.org.

Corrections, comments, suggestions, or articles for the next

month's Newsletter...contact Linda Cranford, Church

Secretary at (704) 278-4045 or email at

linda@southriverumc.org.

River of Life News

Our Congregation: Gary Overcash, Rod & Joan Dixon, Margaret Douglas, Leslie Hudson-Tolles, Carol LudwickOur Congregation At Home: Carl & Frances

Steele, Mrytle Deadmon, Martha Ward, Hazel W. Steele, Dot Fraley, Robert & Mildred Powell, Lucy

Phifer, Muriel CampbellOur Congregation Living In Nursing/Assisted

Living/Rehab: Charles Blankenship – NC State Veterans Home, SalisburyJoyce Simpson – Liberty Commons, Salisbury

E.L. Murph – Salisbury Gardens, SalisburyAlma Bumgarner – Carillon Assisted Living, SalisburyHazel P. Steele – The Gardens, Statesville

Our Family & Friends: Jim Redmond 8/9, DorisHunter, Johnny Moore 8/16

Military Service: George Campbell, Kenny Martin, Ruth Kelty Wilford, Lane McNeely, Greg Kniaz**Prayer List Additions or Update?… contact

Linda Cranford, Church Secretary at (704) 278-4045 or email at linda@southriverumc.org***

September Anniversaries

12 Walter & Rita Beaver

Guy & Staci Maher15 Randy & Elizabeth Powell16 Randy & Dana Annas25 Garrett & Katie Campbell

September Birthdays

2 Tammy Graham, Sarah McNeely3 Amber Steele

4 Brenda Campbell6 Sheila White8 Cody Knotts, Hannah Annas7 Jim Bumgarner9 Garrett Campbell, Chris Simon10 Paul Matlock, Sherry Crider

11 Tony Collins12 T. J. Cannon

13 Trudy Young14 Wendy Dickerson, Staci Maher, Amy Kniaz15 Ann Cartner, Mildred Powell16 Coyte Kyles, Gary Overcash

17 Ryan McCulloh, Cynthia Goodson18 Chloe McNeely19 Larry Campbell, Amber White21 Greg McNeely

25 Linda Cranford, Michael Barron27 Jeff Clifton

New Schedule for Kid's ZoneKid's Zone will not meet on 5th Sundays, when

we celebrate Communion or during thesummer school break. Kid's Zone is geared for

children ages age 3 through third grade and

parents are asked to follow this ageappropriate guideline. If you have questions or

concerns, please contact Katie Campbell,Children's Ministry Coordinator.

River of Life News

Autumn Women's Bible StudyFORGIVENESS: BREAKING THE POWER

OF THE PAST

Ladies, do you want freedom from the pain of

the past? Come and join the women's Bible

study, where we will discover ways to apply

Biblical principles of forgiveness to our

lives. This 6-week study will meet at 7 pm at

the church every Monday night from

September 21 through October 26. It is a "no-

homework" study, meaning group members will

read and write in their personal copies of the

study guide as we interact together over the

Bible passage being studied. If you are

interested in attending or have questions,

contact Susannah Kelty.

Recycled Aluminum Cans MinistryBring your empty aluminum cans to the church and

deposit them in the recycled cans trailer and, by doing

co, support the work of missions in our area. The

trailer is located in the front corner of the parking lot. .

We ask that all donations to the trailer be made in plastic

bags as this will make it easier to unload and weigh the

cans.

Church-Wide Family Camp-outMark your calendars now for this upcoming

family event! The Youth and Family LifeCommittee are sponsoring a church-wide

family camping opportunity here on Friday,October 2. There will be a campfire, familygames and time to fellowship with friends.

There will be hotdogs and s'mores for dinner.A breakfast of pancakes and sausage will beserved Saturday am. Bring a tent, camper,

chair or just a sleeping bag. Not up forovernight? It's ok to attend just a portion ofthe evening. Football fans feel free to join in

after the game. Friends welcome!

Open Call for Praise Team

The SRUMC 9:15 service Praise Team would liketo announce an open call to anyone who might

be interested in singing with their musicministry. They practice on Tuesday nights at

7pm, and warm-up on Sunday mornings at 8:15.If you enjoy singing, love worshiping the Lordthrough music, and have ever given thought to

using that talent in a ministry, now’s yourchance! Please contact Guy Maher at 704-287-3475, or Barry Atwell at 704-818-6095. They

look forward to hearing from you.